"Actor: William Farnum"

• Sunset Boulevard | DVD | (07/04/2003) from £5.99   |  Saving you £10.00 (166.94%)   |  RRP £15.99

  More than half a century after its release in 1950, Sunset Boulevard is still the most pungently unflattering portrait of Hollywood ever committed to celluloid. Billy Wilder, unequalled at combining a literate, sulphurous script with taut direction, hits his target relentlessly. The humour--and the film is rich in this, Wilder's most abundant commodity--is black indeed. Sunset Boulevard is viciously and endlessly clever. William Holden's opportunistic scriptwriter Joe Gillis, whose sellout proves fatal, is from the top drawer of film noir. Gloria Swanson's monstrously deluded Norma Desmond, the benchmark for washed-up divas, transcends parody. And her literal descent down the staircase to madness is one of the all-time great silver-screen moments. Sunset Boulevard isn't without pathos, most notably in Erich von Stroheim's protective butler who wants only to shield his mistress from the stark truths that are massing against her. But its view of human beings at work in a ruthlessly cannibalistic industry is bleak indeed. Nobody, not even Nancy Olson's sparkily ambitious writer Betty Schaefer, is untainted. And neither are we, "those wonderful people out there in the dark". Norma might be ready for her close-up, but it's really Hollywood that's in the frame. No wonder Wilder incurred the charge of treachery from his peers. It's cinematic perfection. On the DVD: Sunset Boulevard lends itself effortlessly to a collector's edition of this quality. The film itself is presented in full-frame aspect ratio from an excellent print and the quality of the mono soundtrack is faultless: the silver screen comes to life in your living room. The extras are superb, including a commentary from film historian Ed Sikov and a making-of documentary which includes the memories of Nancy Olson. Interactive features such as the Hollywood location map add to the fun. --Piers Ford

• Abbott & Costello - Jack & The Beanstalk | DVD | (07/09/2009) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £7.99

  Abbott & Costello: Jack & The Beanstalk

• The Spoilers (John Wayne) | DVD | (05/06/2006) from £5.34   |  Saving you £4.65 (87.08%)   |  RRP £9.99

  In Nome Alaska miner Roy Glennister and his partner Dextry financed by saloon entertainer Cherry Malotte fight to save their gold claim from crooked commissioner Alexander McNamara.

• 3 Classic Westerns Of The SIlver Screen - Vol. 2 - The Painted Desert / Hell Town / Texas Terror | DVD | (10/01/2005) from £4.99   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £4.99

  The Painted Desert: Filmed at the Petrified Forest National Park in Arizona The Painted Desert follows the lives of two feuding cowboys J. Farrell MacDonald and William Farnum who clash over who will raise an orphaned boy they find at a deserted waterhole. Farnum takes the boy whom he names Bill but several years later the feud continues this time over water their adjacent ranches share. Tension escalates until the grown Bill played by William Boyd must choose between h

• Abbott And Costello - Jack And The Beanstalk | DVD | (11/08/2003) from £6.73   |  Saving you £-1.74 (N/A%)   |  RRP £4.99

  Given a job babysitting Donald Jac tries reading the children's favourite 'Jack And The Beanstalk' to the youngster. Unable to pronounce the big words Jack allows Donald to take over with the result of Jack falling asleep and dreaming of a magical kingdom... ...Jack is a local farmer boy asked to take his family's last few coins and buy a cow at the local market. There he is hoodwinked by the butcher Mr Dinkelpuss into swapping the cow for some magic beans. He takes the beans

• Captain Kidd | DVD | (25/08/2003) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £4.99

  The exhilaratingly unhistorical adventures of pirate Captain Kidd revolving around treasure and treachery!

• Painted Desert, The / Clark Gable On Film | DVD | (01/11/2000) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £3.99

  The Painted Desert: Filmed at the Petrified Forest National Park in Arizona The Painted Desert follows the lives of two feuding cowboys J. Farrell MacDonald and William Farnum who clash over who will raise an orphaned boy they find at a deserted waterhole. Farnum takes the boy whom he names Bill but several years later the feud continues this time over water their adjacent ranches share. Tension escalates until the grown Bill played by William Boyd must choose between h

• Abbott And Costello - Jack And The Beanstalk | DVD | (21/01/2002) from £10.23   |  Saving you £5.75 (79.42%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Bud and Lou take on a babysitting job and find themselves involved in the Jack And The Beanstalk fairy tale.

• 3 Classic Comedies Of The Silver Screen - Vol. 2 - Jack And The Beanstalk / Utopia / Spooks Run Wild | DVD | (07/02/2005) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £4.99

  Jack And The Beanstalk: The legendary comedic duo Abbott and Costello provide fairy tale fun for kids (of ALL ages!). The wacky pair pretty much stick to the outline of the original childrens fairytale but add their own signature comic flourishes and slapstick details. Utopia: Stan and Ollie inherit a yacht along with a small island. They set sail accompanied by a stateless refugee and a stowaway. A violent storm causes our heroes to crash on their island. Together

• Abbott And Costello - Jack And Beanstalk | DVD | (23/07/2007) from £6.09   |  Saving you £1.90 (31.20%)   |  RRP £7.99

  Abbott & Costello were one of the greatest comedy teamsin the history of show business. They mastered the straightman/clown relationship creating a magical chemistrythat would take them from the burlesque stage to radio to broadway to film ... and finally to television.After falling asleep whilst babysitting Costello dreams himself into the magical fairy tale 'Jack And The Beanstalk'.Begins in sepiatone then changes to colour.

• The Painted Desert | DVD | (04/10/2004) from £2.49   |  Saving you £2.50 (100.40%)   |  RRP £4.99

  Filmed at the Petrified Forest National Park in Arizona The Painted Desert follows the lives of two feuding cowboys J. Farrell MacDonald and William Farnum who clash over who will raise an orphaned boy they find at a deserted waterhole. Farnum takes the boy whom he names Bill but several years later the feud continues this time over water their adjacent ranches share. Tension escalates until the grown Bill played by William Boyd must choose between his adoptive father Farnum

• Abbott & Costello - Collectors Box Set (Routines 1&2, Africa, Jack) | DVD | (07/09/2009) from £15.14   |  Saving you £14.85 (98.08%)   |  RRP £29.99

  Titles Comprise: 1. Funniest Routines - Vol. 1 2. Funniest Routines - Vol. 2 3. Africa Screams 4. Jack And The Beanstalk

• The Silver Bullet | DVD | (22/08/2005) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £9.99

  Johnny Mack Brown is on a quest to find the man who killed his father his only clue the gunman's silver bullet removed from his own back. Co-starring Fuzzy Knight Jennifer Holt William Farnum and Leroy Mason. A classic B-western from 1942.

• Abbott And Costello - Laugh-A-Thon | DVD | (21/04/2003) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £15.99

  Abbott & Costello Classic Comedies three-disc collector's set consists of oddments from the latter days of their career that have fallen into public domain; which means you don't get their best routines or classiest productions, and indeed find the double act doing fairly tired schtick as Costello is chubbily chicken-hearted and Abbott grumpily money-grubbing. Africa Screams is a 1949 safari parody, with Costello running away yelping from sundry alligators, gorillas (including a Kong-sized giant), cannibals ("Chief have sweet tooth for little fat man") and lions amid backlot jungles as Abbott competes with stock villains for a fortune in diamonds. Jack and the Beanstalk, from 1952, finds the duo attempting to sell themselves as children's entertainers in a Wizard of Oz-influenced fairytale book-ended by sepia modern-day segments. The magical story unfolds in wonderfully gruesome cheap colour with some of the worst musical numbers ever committed to film ("he's perpendicular-la-la") as Jack the Clod (Costello) and Mr Dinkelpuss the Butcher (Abbott) climb the beanstalk and plod around the Giant's lair until the story runs out. Possibly the most interesting item is the third disc, which offers an episode of the Colgate Comedy Hour (aka The Abbott and Costello Show) from the 1950s. It shows the pair doing live routines closer to their original vaudeville act than their film roles (including an amazingly cruel bit in which Abbott slaps Costello every time he says the word "tin"). A loose plot about Latin American intrigue, with Lou hired to stand in for an assassination target "El Presidente", makes room for speciality guest stars ranging from child xylophonist Baby Mistin to four starlets (including Jane Russell and Rhonda Fleming) harmonising on a "Happy Easter" medley. Best of all, and now funnier than the comedy, are original hard-sell ads for household products like "Ajax, the foaming action cleanser" and "Halo, the shampoo that glorifies your hair". --Kim Newman

• Jack and the Beanstalk | DVD | (10/08/2009) from £10.78   |  Saving you £-2.79 (N/A%)   |  RRP £7.99

  Abbott & Costello star in this version of Jack and the Beanstalk. After a modern prologue in monochrome Bud and Lou adapt their usual sharpie-and-patsy roles to colorful fairytale settings and Buddy Baer is an excellent foil as the fearsome giant. (Listen for cartoon-voice Mel Blanc playing several roles in the I Fear Nothing song.) Makes a fabulous children's matinee.

• Painted Desert/Clark Gable on Film | DVD | (27/06/2000) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £5.99

• Abbott And Costello - Jack And The Beanstalk | DVD | (11/02/2002) from £17.53   |  Saving you £-4.54 (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  The legendary comedic duo Abbott and Costello provide fairy tale fun for kids (of ALL ages!). The wacky pair pretty much stick to the outline of the original childrens fairytale but add their own signature comic flourishes and slapstick details.

• The Spoilers | DVD | (07/02/2005) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £9.99

  In Nome Alaska miner Roy Glennister and his partner Dextry financed by saloon entertainer Cherry Malotte fight to save their gold claim from crooked commissioner Alexander McNamara.